Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Vicki Taylor Head of Lifelong Learning, Skills & Employment Hounslow Adult and Community Education Civic Centre Lampton Road Hounslow TW3 4DN

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Following the short inspection on 17 and 18 January 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The inspection was the first short inspection carried out since the provider was judged to be good in December 2014.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Since the previous inspection, senior leaders and managers have made good improvements during a period of change. Managers, with effective support from senior leaders, demonstrate good capacity to sustain and improve the quality of provision further.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Senior leaders and managers have high expectations of staff. Managers are effective in tackling any staff underperformance. Managers involve staff well in making improvements in the provision, such as implementing plans to develop how to capture the progress of learners. These actions ensure that the proportion of learners who achieve qualifications increases each year and is high.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Senior leaders and managers have set a clear strategic direction for the service. Staff are committed to changing what the service offers so that it engages those furthest from employment, those who are most disadvantaged and those in low- paid and low-skilled employment.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Managers ensure that the courses offered meet the changing needs of employers and learners. They introduce new courses, such as catering, to help residents develop the skills that they need to take advantage of new job opportunities. Learners enjoy their learning and many older learners gain health and social benefits from attending classes such as art and yoga.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Staff at all levels create a positive culture where tolerance and respect for each other are central to the service’s values and beliefs. Adults from all walks of life learn and work together in a harmonious environment.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Managers still need to rectify a small number of areas for improvement. Senior leaders and managers currently have little data to assess how well the provision reflects the new strategic direction of the service. Plans to develop community learning programmes, including family learning, are at the early stages of implementation and the proportion of male learners who participate in adult learning is low. Managers’ analysis of where learners move to after they complete their course requires improvement to enable them to evaluate the provision and the impact it has on learners better.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

The leadership team ensures that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Learners feel safe and know whom to turn to should they be concerned about their own welfare or that of others. Tutors act swiftly when they identify learners who need extra support to ensure that they are safe. Managers liaise well with relevant agencies, such as adult social care, to make sure that learners get the help that they need.

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Short inspection of Hounslow Adult and Community Education

Where learners express extreme views, tutors and managers respond effectively. Useful training has built the capacity of most staff well so that they promote British values effectively and tackle extremism and radicalisation. Most staff carefully consider how they explore British values with their learners. However, a few tutors lack confidence in discussing the values and beliefs of their learners with them.

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Inspection findings

 Senior leaders ensure that managers are accountable for the performance of the service and provide effective support and challenge to them to improve. Senior leaders and managers have an accurate understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the provision and target actions well to make the improvements needed.  Managers have successfully introduced new arrangements to assess and improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Their observations of teaching, learning and assessment are, in the main, insightful and identify accurately strengths and weaknesses in teaching. They place good emphasis on the learning and progress of learners when making judgements on the quality of teaching.  Managers use a good range of information to manage the performance of staff, including that from observations of teaching and learners’ achievements. They closely monitor progress against the detailed action plans that tutors have to

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Inspection findings

improve their teaching. Tutors feel well supported by managers.  Tutors record the progress and achievement of learners on non-accredited courses accurately. This assures managers that the data on the high rates of achievement for learners on courses that do not lead to a qualification is accurate.  Managers ensure that tutors are able to determine how best to gather achievement evidence relating to their subject area. For example, in a yoga class photographs are used to monitor how well individuals are progressing in adopting correct yoga postures.  Tutors’ records of the progress that learners make are generally rich in detail. They provide a good summary of the benefits of the courses learners attend, such as improved upper-body mobility for learners on a tai chi course.  Staff provide good support to learners to help them plan their next steps once they complete their course. Guidance tutors provide information about a wide

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Inspection findings

range of progression opportunities and help learners to develop their curriculum vitae and prepare for interviews. As a result of the good support that learners receive, a high proportion progress to positive destinations once they complete their course. Over half of learners progress to further learning and around a fifth to employment.  Employers’ good contribution to the curriculum enriches the experience of those on work-related courses. For example, employers provide work experience placements to those seeking jobs to support teaching in schools. Employers provide briefings for learners about the world of work and teach interview skills and employability training. Learners value the knowledge and practical experience that they gain from employers.  Managers work well with partners at both a strategic and operational level to develop the community learning offer, for example with managers from housing

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Inspection findings

and children’s services. They have a good understanding of local employment opportunities, the priorities of the local authority and the needs of residents. They use this information well to plan new courses, for example for vulnerable refugees.  Managers use feedback from the community and existing learners well to develop new courses. For example, they visit community cafes and local events to elicit ideas from communities not currently engaged with learning. Managers use this information well to plan new programmes such as a support programme for carers of people living with dementia.  Managers have been slow to develop family learning provision as a result of a delay in appointing a new coordinator. While some family learning provision is on offer, this is relatively small in relation to the demand.  Managers have developed a small number of new community learning courses, particularly in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL). Managers target

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Inspection findings

these courses at women; they have not developed a clear strategy to increase the number of male learners who are currently under-represented on ESOL programmes.  Tutors and staff support ESOL learners well so that they make good progress. Tutors use information well on the skills and abilities that learners have when they start their course to teach lessons which meet their individual needs.  Tutors ensure that ESOL learners use relevant materials and tasks to develop their skills at different levels. They organise group and paired work well so that learners can support each other and consolidate their skills. As a result, ESOL learners achieve well.  Managers have taken effective action to remedy delays in accessing support for learners who need extra help. Managers make sure that additional learning support is now in place for all ESOL learners on lower-level foundation classes from the start of the course.

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Inspection findings

 Managers work well with local employers to develop courses which help employees to improve their spoken English. For example, a course for ESOL for bus drivers enabled the drivers to develop their speaking skills to use walkie- talkies to communicate effectively with their base while on the road.

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Next steps for the provider

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the provider

 plans to develop the community learning programme, including the family learning offer, and to increase the number of male learners are clear so that the ambitions of the local authority are fully realised  they identify a range of measures or indicators against which they can judge how well the service is successfully meeting its new mission  they fully analyse learners’ next steps once they complete their course so that they can fully understand and evaluate the provision and its impact on learners.

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Next steps for the provider

I am copying this letter to the Education and Skills Funding Agency. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, the head of lifelong learning, skills and employment, as nominee, assisted two of Her Majesty’s Inspectors and two Ofsted Inspectors. We met with you, senior leaders, managers, tutors and learners. We carried out lesson observations, and took account of the most recent self-assessment report and development plans and the previous inspection report. We used group and individual interviews and telephone calls to gather the views of learners, staff and partners. We scrutinised data and information on the performance of the service, reviewed schemes of work, lesson plans, key policy documents and records of safeguarding concerns.

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